1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus, and particularly to an image reading apparatus which reads an image recorded on a transparent material, such as a photographic film, or a reflective material.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional image reading apparatus is known in which an image recorded on a photographic film is read by transmitting light, which is emitted from a light source, through the transparent photographic film and photoelectrically reading the transmitted light using a reading sensor such as a line CCD.
This kind of image reading apparatus is structured in such a manner that, while a photographic film is conveyed in the longitudinal direction thereof, light emitted from the light source is irradiated through a light diffusion box on the photographic film as slit light which is elongated in the transverse direction of the photographic film, and the image transmitted through the photographic film is read line by line, by a line CCD or the like, in which a plurality of light-receiving cells are disposed in the transverse direction of the photographic film.
In general, an image frame of a photographic film has long sides in the longitudinal direction of the photographic film. In other words, the photographic film is conveyed in the direction of the long sides of the image frame. Therefore, a drawback arises in that reading of images recorded on the photographic film becomes inevitably slow when the line CCD is disposed along the transverse direction of the photographic film, i.e., along the direction of the short sides of the image frame.